Era 4: Block Reward Reduces to 2.56 ETC

On April 25, 2022, at block 15,000,001, Ethereum Classic entered Era 4 of its fixed monetary policy. The block reward reduced from 3.2 ETC to 2.56 ETC — the fourth era of ECIP-1017's 20% reduction schedule.

## The Numbers

| Parameter | Era 3 | Era 4 |
|-----------|-------|-------|
| Block reward | 3.2 ETC | 2.56 ETC |
| Uncle reward | 0.1 ETC | 0.08 ETC |
| Daily emission | ~21,120 ETC | ~16,896 ETC |
| Annual emission | ~7.71M ETC | ~6.17M ETC |

## Cumulative Supply

By the start of Era 4, approximately 131.1 million ETC had been minted — roughly 62% of the ~210.7 million maximum supply.

## Context

Era 4 began just five months before Ethereum's transition to proof-of-stake (The Merge, September 2022). The timing was significant: as ETC's emission rate decreased, a massive influx of hashrate from former Ethereum miners was about to arrive.

The combination of reduced block rewards and dramatically increased hashrate meant miners earned less ETC per unit of computing power — but the network's security increased substantially.

## The Emission Curve

| Era | Block Range | Reward | Activation |
|-----|-------------|--------|------------|
| 1 | 0 – 5M | 5 ETC | Jul 2015 |
| 2 | 5M – 10M | 4 ETC | Dec 2017 |
| 3 | 10M – 15M | 3.2 ETC | Mar 2020 |
| **4** | **15M – 20M** | **2.56 ETC** | **Apr 2022** |
| 5 | 20M – 25M | 2.048 ETC | May 2024 |

[View the next block reward reduction →](/research/supply)